Contextual lead generation in an automated communication link establishment and management system

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems are disclosed herein for contextual lead generation in an automated communication link establishment and management system. In addition, systems and methods are disclosed for automatically integrating an automated calling system with a customer relationship management system, contact management system, and/or task management system, so that historical information stored concerning past contact activity and automated calling sessions relating to contacts is automatically updated in the customer relationship management system, contact management system, and/or task management system.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to, and is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 13/894,126, filed May 14, 2013, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATIC UPDATE OF CALLS WITH PORTABLE DEVICE”, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 13/412,715, filed Mar. 6, 2012, entitled “CLOSED LOOP CALLING PROCESS IN AN AUTOMATED COMMUNICATION LINK ESTABLISHMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM”. This application also claims benefit from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/756,295, entitled “CONTEXTUAL LEAD GENERATION IN AN AUTOMATED COMMUNICATION LINK ESTABLISHMENT AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM” filed Jan. 24, 2013, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates to a method and system for optimizing market coverage in a system for facilitating call connections between a user and a target. For the sake of clarity and ease of understanding, references will be made to examples of applications for making sales calls. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the concepts described herein are applicable to any number of different fields, including, but not limited to, any contact relationship management system, telephone surveys, telephone number verification, census information gathering activities, fund raising campaigns, political campaigns, or any combination thereof.

An automated system for telephonically conducting simultaneous calling sessions on behalf of many users will involve calling attempts on separate successive sessions, which may be separated by a number of days, weeks, or in some cases, even months. An example of an automated system for facilitating telephone call connections between a user and a prospect is described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2007/0121902 A1, published May 31, 2007, entitled TRANSFER OF LIVE CALLS, based upon application Ser. No. 11/556,301, filed Nov. 3, 2006, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Many companies, non-profit organizations and government entities regularly call people at their place of work. These calls are often intended to identify opportunities to sell one or more products, but are also made to solicit donations, conduct market research or collect owed money. Many of these calls are made to someone known to the calling organization, and for whom contact information such as name, company name, title and one or more telephone numbers are available. However, it is often desirable to have telephone conversations with people who are not individually known to the calling organization, but who have a title or job role at a company that may have a need for one or more products being sold by the calling organization.

These kinds of calls, usually called “cold calls”, are typically made by acquiring a list of contacts from a list vendor or aggregator of contact data such as Data.com, Hoovers or Zoom Info. Such lead lists typically have high rates of outdated and incorrect information. Industry data shows that more than 20 call attempts are required on average to get a live telephone conversation with a targeted person. Thus, inaccurate or outdated contact information in a calling list wastes time that could have been better spent in trying to reach valid contacts, or in actual sales conversations. These dead end call attempts also frustrate and hurt the morale and impair the earnings of the callers, who are usually sales representatives that are compensated based on successful conversation outcomes.

In addition, while an acquired lead list can usually be filtered by attributes such as job title, industry, and company size in order to more accurately target calling campaigns, these lists do not provide any information that helps identify targets who might be more ready to buy a specific product because of an event or change in circumstance. For example, a company that has recently opened a new office would be more likely to be in the market for a coffee delivery service; or a company that just bought a Salesforce Customer Relationship Management, or CRM, system might be interested in buying CRM consulting services. These kinds of events and changes of circumstance can be thought of as contextual clues that provide evidence that a specific company or individual person is likely to be more receptive to a specific sales offer. These contextual clues are often very time sensitive, and can quickly become obsolete when the need of the moment is fulfilled and the potential buyer moves on to solve other problems.

Calling organizations often recognize the value of using time sensitive contextual clues for identifying higher quality leads on which to spend their valuable calling resources, and they often provide their sales representatives with Internet-based research tools such as InsideView or RainKing, supplemented by generic search tools such as Google or Bing and by services such as LinkedIn that provide information about individual people. This research is typically done for a combination of a company and contact on an acquired calling list immediately before a call attempt. These tools, in aggregate, are commonly referred to as ‘lead generation’ or ‘leadgen’. Unfortunately, because more than 95 percent of call attempts do not result in a conversation, most of this leadgen process is wasted or its effectiveness is reduced because of the delay between the research and the actual conversation, if any.

Complicating the challenge of identifying contextual clues and responding to them in a timely manner is the administrative burden thrust upon the calling organization to manage this extremely dynamic information in a manner that supports the organization's territory policy and design. Most companies organize their sales reps into distinct ‘geographies’ with no overlap between reps. Factors such as industry, company size, functional roles within an organization, product line and location are common factors used to design these rep territories. Organizations with many sales reps and some degree of turnover across those reps can struggle with the constant need to align customers and opportunities to the shape-shifting of their sales organization. When territory requirements are extended in front of customers, to the much larger population of potential customers, often called ‘prospects’, the complexities and administrative cost can become overwhelming.

Organization's that go to the extraordinary efforts to extend territory policy management into their leadgen efforts can often suffer from the unintended consequence of now being fully reliant on the whims of their reps to cover leads in the necessary time sensitive manner. Given that sales reps go through a natural cycle, that can often take weeks, months or quarters, of finding new opportunities via prospecting, spending time ensuring a proper product fit via qualifying, engaging in a sales process and negotiating a purchase, it is common that leads are delivered to a sales rep when their effort is in a different portion of their sales lifecycle. As a result, huge portions of time sensitive leads can lay fallow, never having been spoken with by a sales rep before their value expires. This frequent scenario can be incredibly frustrating and costly to the calling organization given the time and expense it has gone through to provide the leadgen function to sales.

Customer relationship management (“CRM”) systems are typically used as master repositories for customer and prospect information. When using an automated calling process, the user has conversations with prospects that need to be correctly recorded in a CRM system, such as logging the call, setting a status field on the lead or contact record to indicate that at least one conversation has taken place, and creating a task record for follow up action. These updates need to be performed in a way that allows the user to mix automated calling sessions with unscheduled manual dialing and scheduled meetings in a coordinated way that avoids conflicts, such as calling a prospect back too early, or before an agreed-upon next step has been taken.

Accordingly, what is needed is an improved system and methods for better identifying and timing a caller's outreach to a target that optimizes market coverage. Such a system will better identify potential customers with a propensity to purchase the goods/services of the caller.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features, obstacles, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram depicting a system according to one embodiment described herein.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating further details of the communication link establishment and management system shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow chart of a method of executing a calling session.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart providing more details for the method of handling a new contact referred by a target shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow chart providing more details for the method of scheduling a meeting with a target shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart providing more details for the method of setting up a follow up conversation shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart of a method of applying failed call attempts to contact records shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow chart of a method of managing a meeting or manual call.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flow chart of a method of dynamically allocating agents.

FIG. 10 illustrates a state table that is associated with the method depicted in FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 illustrates a screenshot of a display provided as an agent interface for use in connection with an automated calling system.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram depicting one embodiment of a programmable CRM integration system for use in a system according to one embodiment described herein.

FIG. 13 illustrates a flow chart of a method of contextual lead generation.

FIG. 14 illustrates a flow chart of a process flow of lead pooling.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ONE OR MORE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Apparatus, systems and methods that implement the embodiments of the various features of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. The drawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate some embodiments of the present invention and not to limit the scope of the present invention. Throughout the drawings, reference numbers are re-used to indicate correspondence between referenced elements.

Referring to FIG. 1, a communication link establishment and management system 100 is provided. A plurality of users 101, 101 a, 101 b, 101 c and 101 d are shown in FIG. 1. In the illustrated example, the users 101 may be sales personnel who need to contract potential customers via telephone to sell a product or service. The communication link establishment and management system 100 is operative to establish communication with targets 103, 103 a, 013 b, 103 c, 103 d, 103 e.

Although the communication link establishment and management system 100 provides the capability of simultaneously executing the same calling list for multiple users 101, 101 a, 101 b, 101 c and 101 d (under circumstances where any one of the users 101, 101 a, 101 b, 101 c and 101 d are equally capable of having a conversation with any target 103, 103 a, 013 b, 103 c, 103 d, 103 e on the calling list) in most typical applications a given calling list will be executed on behalf of only one user 101 a at a time.

In typical applications, a user 101 a may provide a calling list to the communication link establishment and management system 100, or have a calling list automatically generated, for example, based upon queries to a database 111 or based upon queries to a separate customer relationship management system, contact management system, or task management system. Then that user 101 a can sit back and wait for a few moments as the communication link establishment and management system 100 starts dialing, and in a few moments, start talking directly to desired target persons 103 as soon as the first successful communication link is established.

In the illustrated example, communication with the targets 103 is established telephonically using the public switched telephone network 104. The public switched telephone network (PSTN) refers to the worldwide network of public circuit-switched telephone networks, including telephone subscriber lines, telephone trunk lines, cellular networks, transoceanic telephone cables, fiber optic cables, microwave links, and satellite links, which are all inter-connected by switching centers. The PSTN allows any telephone in the world to be connected with any other for voice communication. The PSTN initially was a network of analog telephone systems connected to twisted pair cables. Over the years, the PSTN was upgraded to almost entirely digital switching networks, and now includes mobile telephones as well as fixed telephones.

As shown in FIG. 1, agents 102, 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d, 102 e function to facilitate the establishment of a communication link between a user 101 and a target 103. In the illustrated example, an agent performs important functions in completing calls between a sales person 101 and a potential customer 103. Typically, users 101 participate in the calling activity of the system 100 during a period of time referred to as a calling session. The user 101 may have a sales pitch to deliver, and would like to deliver the pitch to sequential targets or potential customers 103 without substantial interruption or downtime between successful connections to a potential customer 103. The user or pitcher 101 is associated with a calling list that includes telephone numbers and target identifying information. The calling list may be extracted from a conventional contact management system, or a customer relationship management system. An example of a commercially available customer relationship management system is salesforce.com.

The present invention provides significant advantages that may not be readily apparent to persons skilled in the art who have not witnessed the operation of the communication link establishment and management system 100 in practice. In one survey of over a hundred North American technology companies in the year 2010, the average inside sales person was only able to make 47 telephone call attempts a day. In attempting to complete calls to targets 103 to successfully engage in conversations with them, a business person must typically dial from a list of telephone numbers, navigate IVR systems and automated attendant systems, go through operators, talk to gatekeepers, go through company directories, listen to voicemail greetings, redial alternate numbers for a target 103 when the original number is busy, turns out to be a facsimile number, or there is no answer, and so forth. In order to achieve a rate as high as 47 call attempts a day, the average person must concentrate solely upon the calling activity to the exclusion of everything else.

In practice, the success rate is about twenty-two call attempts for every conversation successfully conducted with a desired target person 103. At a success rate of 22 to 1, a sales person who makes 47 calls a day will only average two to three conversations a day with desired targets 103. When the targets 103 are higher-level executives, the success rate drops even lower. For mid-level executives, experience has shown that the success rate is typically only about one out of every thirty-five call attempts. When the targets 103 are upper level management, the success rate drops even lower.

While the present description of an embodiment of the invention uses the example of a business that sells to potential customers over the telephone, the usefulness of the present invention is not limited to a telephone sales environment. In most businesses, having conversations with potential customers, potential investors, potential partners, existing customers, etc., is vital to the success of the business. Yet, as the value of the target person 103 goes up, the difficultly in establishing communication with the target 103 typically goes up as well, and consequently, the success rate of calling attempts goes down.

The value of the target 103 is not the only relevant factor. The value of the user 101 to the business is also an important consideration. As the value and importance of the user 101, who is attempting to establish communication with a target 103, goes up, such higher value users 101 typically have greater responsibilities in connection with their respective business, and usually have important meetings and other business activities that place demands upon the user's time. Therefore, an inverse relationship typically exists between the value and importance of the user 101 attempting to establish communication with a target 103, and the time that the user 101 has available to engage in dialing and attempting to call the target 103. Nevertheless, having communications with targets 103 is a business critical activity that must be done for the success of a user's business.

Experience has also shown that calls are more efficiently done if the calls are made in a block in which conversations concerning a similar theme or subject matter are concentrated together. This may be defined as monothematic calling sessions. For example, it is more efficient for a user 101 to arrange in a block, or a single calling session, all calls that the user 101 needs to make to venture capitalists with whom the user 101 wants to talk to about investing in the user's business. Or the user 101 may wish to devote a calling session to conversations with existing customers, either to gauge customer satisfaction, explore an expansion of the existing business, discuss a new product offering or product upgrade, etc. Or the user 101 may engage in a calling session for the purpose of engaging in conversations with a list of targets 103 that the user 101 wants to talk to about an expansion of the user's business into Europe or some other new territory.

Experience has shown that a user 101 generally has better results when engaging in conversations concerning the same subject matter or theme, if the conversations are grouped together and conducted in a concentrated activity. If a user 101 is able to engage in several conversations in a relatively rapid sequence, it is easier to take advantage of anything that is learned during a previous conversation and apply it to subsequent conversations. For example, it is easier for the user 101 to try different approaches and to accurately gauge which approach appears to achieve better results. When conversations occur in a concentrated fashion, it is easier for a user 101 to try different messages, to try different calling lists, or to try different times of day for attempting calls. For example, if a user 101 is attempting to manually place calls at the slow success rate typical of conventional dialing approaches, it is difficult for the user 101 to reliably determine such information as, for example, when is the best time of day to call potential customers on the East Coast, or what day of the week do targets 103 on a particular list having certain characteristics tend to answer the telephone more frequently, etc.

A communication link establishment and management system 100 in accordance with the present invention typically provides a user 101 with an average of ten conversations an hour with desired target persons 103. A system 100 in accordance with the present invention effectively divides the activity of attempting calls into three parts. The part that can be done automatically by a machine is performed by the system 100. The part that can be performed by a person with general skills relating to call placement, and which does not require expertise in the user's business and specialized knowledge relevant to the subject matter of the desired conversation, can be performed by agents 102. The part that requires the skill and expertise of a high value user 101, i.e., the actual conversation with a target person 103, is isolated so that, as far as the system 100 is concerned, the user 101 only spends time engaging in the actual desired conversations with the targets 103. While the system 100 and the agents 102 are working to successfully establish communication with a desired target person 103, the user 101 is free to engage in other work activities, such a reading emails, drafting correspondence, completing reports, etc. The user 101, who may be a high skilled person whose involvement in meetings and business decisions is crucial to the success of the users' business, is allowed to maximize the time available for such business critical activities, while at the same time efficiently using the user's time that is required to engage in important conversations with targets 103 which are vital to the success and growth of the user's business.

A communication link establishment and management system 100 in accordance with the present invention further provides the significant functional advantage of providing the ultimate diagnostic tool for a business. The ability to engage in concatenated conversations with existing customers, potential customers, existing investors, potential investors, existing partners, potential partners, etc., and then observe the results of those conversations and utilize the data and information gathered during such conversations, is an enormous advantage to any business. Such critical information is invaluable in analyzing and improving a business, and is important in the improvement of marketing campaigns, the improvement of sales approaches, the improvement of customer satisfaction and customer relations, the improvement of business strategies and business models, and the improvement of many other procedures, goals and activities. These and other advantages may not be relatively apparent unless and until a person skilled in the art actually observes and experiences the effectiveness and the operation of the present invention in practice.

Turning to FIG. 13, a flow chart for a contextual lead generation process in accordance with the present invention is shown. One embodiment of steps associated with a method of creating a database of leads is shown. This method aims to optimize market coverage through a process of identifying and timing a caller's outreach to a potential customer by having identified market signals that would indicate a propensity to purchase a caller's product or service. Unlike many leadgen activities that focus solely on who to contact, contextual prospecting aims to time a caller's outreach so that an organization's prospecting adds the elements of ‘what to say’ and ‘why now.’ When designed properly, the Funnel Builder component of the present invention allows an organization to find these market signals in a fashion to support large scale creation of leads that are perpetual.

An important aspect to identifying large numbers of leads is the mechanism to ensure timely coverage of those leads. Lead Pooling eliminates the common territory constraints that allow individual sales representatives to decide on market outreach and replaces this representative-dependent design with one that maximizes the coverage of leads being contacted during the likely buying window indicated by the market signal that caused the account to be identified initially. Lead Pooling, when combined with Funnel Builder, creates a high-velocity lead generation program that should allow an organization to identify prospects before others, ensure they are contacted quickly and provide the framework for a meaningful conversation all at a pace not possible without the core elements of the present invention.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, Funnel Builder is the lead generation component that allows an organization to create a perennial flow of unique leads. Funnel Builder utilizes information that is available through a variety of sources, such as the Internet, to identify market opportunities quickly and broadly.

In step 1301, the illustrated method defines target market signals. This step includes identifying common events that often precede a buying opportunity for one's product or service by a particular company. Examples of these market signals could be a staff change, a hiring initiative, an organizational announcement or the purchase of another product or service by a company.

In step 1302, the illustrated method translates the defined market signals into queries that can be used to search information for leads. In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, these queries can used repeatedly to search various databases, such as the Internet. In one embodiment, the queries are designed to find publications of the defined market signals on webpages. In another embodiment, the queries can utilize consolidators or services that have accumulated information about various markets. The queries can be designed to target specific websites or to search the Internet in its entirety.

In step 1303, the illustrated method will structure the resulting output from the queries. In one embodiment, the queries will generate a list of uniform resource locators (URLs, also known as webpages) that contain information on the market signals. Step 303 will organize the information contained in these URLs. In one embodiment, if the query is targeting a specific website, there is some likelihood that the information on that site will be in a consistent format. If that is the case, the query itself can extract the data on the webpage rather than just the URL. In other embodiments, the resulting webpages captured by the query will reside in many formats. This will require normalization of the data contained on those webpages. In one embodiment, the output of the query process is an Excel-like spreadsheet that summarizes all the URLs that contain market signal information for a particular query. It will be appreciated that the output may be in other formats that allow for storage of the information that summarizes the URLS that were returned as containing the defined market signals for a particular query.

In step 1304, the illustrated method appends data that will allow the results to be actionable. For example, the query process may yield information that is generally at the company-level. That is, an event has occurred at an organization of interest. This yielded information (“the data”) is not yet actionable by a caller (sales representative) as the data lacks the essential information as to who to contact. Step 304 adds people-specific information to the query data. In one embodiment, step 304 can be automated by partnering with a data provider and defining contact parameters for each query. An example of this is that the query needs to be appended with a CIO or CTO level contact. Once step 1304 is complete for a particular query, a complete lead will be generated, containing a company-level signal, with contact information for the appropriate person to contact, along with “what” to talk with that person about.

Lead Pooling

The traditional ‘rep assignment’ process often results in lead follow up becoming inconsistent and/or territory coverage overly rep-dependent. When the varying lead coverage is combined with the administrative burden of territory assignments before any qualification, the organizational return on the most common lead assignment methodologies seems marginal.

Lead Pooling allows an organization to offset the downsides of traditional territory assignments. To ensure maximum market coverage, Lead Pooling allows an organization to create company-wide database(s) of leads, each with common themes. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a lead pool can be referred to as a ‘campaign’, wherein a rep accesses the individual leads in that campaign.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, instead of assigning leads within a campaign to a specific rep, a representative can access these leads via their use of the methods of the present invention. In this manner, a ‘conversation’ by a rep with a prospective account affords that rep the ability to qualify and possibly protect that lead for a subsequent sales process. By converting a lead to a contact and opportunity, an account becomes part of a rep's territory—until sold or aging-out of the rep pipeline due to time-based stage policy. In this way, territories become elastic and self-managing, with reps wanting ‘more territory’ generating as much via prospecting in the Lead Pool more frequently.

It will be appreciated that the Lead Pooling design ensures that time-sensitive leads generated via the Funnel Builder process do not lay dormant, possibly never being contacted during the likely buying window, and whose follow up is determined by individual rep sales cycles. Rather, these leads will be instantly available to the subset of reps at a company who happen to be in the leadgen-prospecting portion of their sales cycles.

In step 1305, the illustrated method imports the leads to a CRM or similar database as a campaign. In this embodiment, a CRM may refer to any system of record that a business uses to track its customers and prospects. In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, each query will result in a steady flow of leads that will likely have a similar theme. Thus, all completely appended leads from any single query can be imported into the same campaign within CMR, including the contextual data for each specific lead captured in the query process. Furthermore, one may have multiple queries all focused on finding a common market signal from different sources, and in this case, all query results can be consolidated into a single campaign with the CMR. By keeping campaigns mono-thematic, one can ensure that conversations with prospects are both efficient and effective

In step 1306, contextual campaigns are accessible for calling sessions as described below by users assigned to these campaigns.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating further details of the communication link establishment and management system 100 shown in FIG. 1. The communication link establishment and management system 100 may be implemented with a server. In the illustrated example, the communication link establishment and management system 100 comprises a user application 105, a session module 106, and a target module 107, all of which may be running on a server. The communication link establishment and management system 100 further comprises an agent application 108, an agent module 109, and an agent administrative application 110. A call management module 112, a connection management module 113, and a communication interface 114 are also provided. In one embodiment, the communication interface 114 may be a telephone interface, for example, where the communication link establishment and management system 100 is connected to the PSTN. In another embodiment, the communication interface 114 may be a network interface, for example, where the communication link establishment and management system 100 is connected to the Internet. A database 111 is stored on a data store, such as a hard disk drive, a RAM drive, or any other suitable storage device.

The user application 105 keeps track of the state of calls and other actions associated with the user 101, and generates any display or other output or interface provided to a user 101 during a calling session. In one embodiment, the user application 105 may reside on the server for the communication link establishment and management system 100, as shown in FIG. 2. A user 101 may interact with the communication link establishment and management system 100 using a web browser running on a personal computer. Alternatively, a portion of the user application 105 may be installed or downloaded onto a user device, such as the user's personal computer, or the user's smartphone or tablet, although in that case some small portion of the user application 105 may still reside on the communication link establishment and management system 100.

The session module 106 keeps track of the state of a currently running calling session. The session module will keep track of the state of a calling session, including whether the user 101 is busy at any given moment in time, whether the system 100 is dialing, whether the system 100 is pausing, whether the user 101 is talking, etc. The target module 107 keeps track of the state of events and conditions relating to targets 103, such as which targets 103 are being called, when the last call attempt was made to a target 103, historical calling attempts associated with a target 103, information relating to the quality of contact information associated with a target 103, such as bad numbers, updated information, etc. In one embodiment, call disposition data and information associated with targets 103 and a current calling list, are maintained in memory and at the end of a calling session, are stored in a database 111, which information may later be transferred to an external contact database or customer relationship management database.

The agent application 108 provides an interface with agents 102, and generates displays for agents 102 such as the screenshot shown in FIG. 11. The agent module 109 handles actions among the group of available agents 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d and 102 e. The agent module 109 maintains agent characteristic information, such as agent skills (languages spoken, etc.), agent experience, agent cost, and other characteristic information. The agent module 109 shown in FIG. 2 performs the function of determining which agent 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d, or 102 e should be selected to handle a calling attempt (based upon agent characteristic information and agent selection criteria) when a call attempt needs to be transferred to an agent 102 in step 207 shown in FIG. 9.

Referring to FIG. 2, the agent administration module 110 is used to create and update agent associated records and to identify each agent 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d, and 102 e. For example, the agent administration module 110 maintains a table or index for data concerning each agent's cost (labor cost or pay rate), the identity of the vendor that supplied the agent 102, the employer of the agent 102 if the agent labor is outsourced, an agent ID or identifying indicia unique to each agent 102, the experience level of an agent, the number of calls handled by an agent, the average time interval between calls for each agent, and other performance metrics and agent characteristic information. The agent administration module 110 records data to track and score each agent's performance and other metrics that are useful in evaluating an agent 102.

The call management module 112 keeps track of call states, for example whether a telephone number is ringing, whether a user 101 is busy or is available for a call transfer, what calls are being attempted for a particular user 101, etc. The connection management module 113 controls and keeps track of each connection. For example, the connection module 113 keeps track of whether a user 101 actively involved in a calling session called into the system 100, or whether the system 100 called the user 101, and if so, at what number. The connection management module 113 is operative to cause a user 101 to be connected to a target 103 at appropriate times, for example, when an agent 102 clicks on the transfer button 406 shown in FIG. 11, which is described more fully below. The connection management module 113 is operative to cause an agent 102 to be connected to a calling attempt so that the agent 102 can hear the call in progress, and can communicate with a gatekeeper or navigate an automated attendant system.

In the illustrated embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the various modules may intercommunicate with each other via the database 111. In an alternative embodiment, a data bus or communication bus may be provided, and each of the modules 106, 107, 109, 112, and 113 may be connected to the bus in order to communicate with each other. In such an alternative embodiment, the database 111 would also be connected to the bus. In addition, the agent administration application would also communicate via the bus with the database 111 and the agent module 110.

The structure of the components of the communication link establishment and management system 100 having been described, attention will now be turned to the functionality of the various components. It is understood that the illustrated system 100 is merely one embodiment of how the features of the present invention may be implemented. However, a number of alternative configurations are possible. For example, the features of a server and the database 111 may be performed, in whole or in part, at a user device: (e.g., a personal computing device may be configured to achieve some or all of the functionality of a server and the database storage 111 described herein). Alternatively, the database storage 111 may be integrated on a separate server at a single location while communicating with the user 101 over a network 104, (e.g., the Internet). Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that a plurality of different implementations of the present invention are possible and are all within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. However, for the sake of clarity, the following description will refer to the illustrated system shown in FIG. 1.

One embodiment of the present invention provides a closed loop calling process that creates and manages metadata about prospects. The stored metadata may be used advantageously to create calling lists of targets having certain characteristics.

The stored metadata includes status information concerning the target 103. Status information includes whether the user 101 has talked to the associated target 103. Status information includes whether this target is someone that the user wants to talk to, whether this target is someone the user does not want to talk to, etc.

The stored metadata includes information concerning an attention class associated with the target 103. One possible attention class is that the next unscheduled conversation is “urgent,” meaning that contact should be made as soon as possible with the target 103. Another possible attention class is that the next unscheduled conversation with the target 103 is “priority,” meaning that it should be preferentially attempted ahead of non-priority contact attempts in future calling sessions. A third possible attention class for a target 103 is “normal.”

The stored metadata includes information concerning the next steps to take with respect to the target 103. The purpose of the “next steps” data is to record in the database 111 information that may be readily provided to a user 101 and displayed on the user's screen provided by a user device when the user 101 has a later conversation with the associated target 103. This may include notes that describe the anticipated next actions to be taken in the ongoing interaction with the target 103. The next steps information can include, for example, schedule a meeting, check on the status of an order, generate a quote or proposal, etc. The next steps may create a dependency wherein some act must occur or some condition must be met before the target may be included in a calling list.

The stored metadata includes information relating to the earliest date on which any further calling attempts can be made with respect to the target 103. The effect of this data is to exclude the target 103 from any calling lists generated for calling sessions prior to this date, which is sometimes referred to as a “wait until” date, or alternatively as a “hold until” date. After the follow up date stored in this metadata, the target 103 associated with this record is eligible to be included in calling lists. Note that the next steps metadata may have an impact on the date stored here. Because the next steps metadata may create a dependency wherein the target should not be included in a calling list until some act is performed, such as putting together an estimate or proposal requested by the target, the context of the next steps data may determine the date of any “wait until” date stored for the target 103.

The stored metadata includes a “hold flag” which is used to insure that the associated target is excluded from any automatically generated calling lists while the flag is set. There are many circumstances under which a user 101 would not wish to have an automated calling system 100 include a particular target 103 on a calling list of people who are being automatically called by the system 100. The “hold flag” is used for the purpose of excluding the associated target 103 from calling lists.

The metadata can also include a flag indicating whether the next attempt to contact the target 103 will be in an automated calling session or some other way, including a scheduled call or meeting.

The metadata associated with a target 103 preferably is contextually associated with a particular user 101 a. The metadata status field for target 103 a that is associated with user 101 a may be set to indicate that the target 103 a has been talked to by user 101 a, but the metadata status field for target 103 a that is associated with user 101 b may be set to indicate that the target 103 a has not been talked to by user 101 b. Similarly, the metadata field for next steps associated with target 103 a may be set to one value for user 101 a, and set to a different value for user 101 b, in circumstances where some action needs to be taken specifically by user 101 a but is not applicable to user 101 b.

However, in most businesses, a target 103 a will be allocated to a specific user 101 a based on territory or some other exclusivity parameter, and it will be unusual for two different users 101 a and 101 b to be calling the same target 103 a. Nevertheless, the automated calling system 100 according to the present invention allows for the coordination of calling lists generated for overlapping targets 103 who may potentially appear on calling lists for more than one user 101 in a business.

In one embodiment, the metadata described herein may be maintained in a standalone data management application such as Microsoft Excel, with the user opening a contact spreadsheet after each conversation, finding the row that matches the conversation, and setting values in columns corresponding to the metadata described above. In a preferred embodiment, however, the metadata is maintained in the automated calling system's database 111, and managed through a user interface provided by the automated calling system 100 after each conversation. In an alternative embodiment, the metadata could be maintained in a customer relationship management (“CRM”) system or the like, and managed through the CRM system's user interface. Alternatively, the metadata is maintained in a CRM system, and the automated calling system 100 provides a user interface in conjunction with an integration capability that updates records in the CRM system.

The metadata described herein is useful in generating calling lists and reports. In particular, the metadata may be used to generate optimized or thematic calling lists where targets 103 to be called are all associated with a particular theme or purpose or project. Predetermined query filters or report definitions can be created in the automated calling system 100, or provided in any of the embodiments involving a separate CRM system, wherein the query filters use the metadata values to generate optimized calling lists for different purposes. For example, predetermined calling list generation filters may be provided to efficiently support having an automated calling session that is dedicated to a theme, such as “Business Development Calls to New Leads”, “Follow Up Conversations for Sales Campaign”, “Urgent Conversations”, “High Priority Follow-Up Calls”, “End of Month Contract Closing Calls”, and so on. As the metadata is updated after each conversation, these predetermined query filters and reports have the effect of moving any individual target or prospect 103 automatically between different lists as conversations occur or other information becomes available that results in the metadata being changed outside of the automated calling process itself.

A closed loop calling process in accordance with the present invention handles the problem of avoiding inappropriate collisions among unscheduled automated conversations, unscheduled manually dialed or inbound call conversations, and scheduled conversations. For example, a target 103 that has a “wait until” date that is after the date on which the calling list is being generated will be filtered out from any calling list that might otherwise include the associated target 103, and as a result, one avoids prematurely or inappropriately having an unscheduled conversation with a target 103 with whom one has scheduled a meeting, or promised to talk with someone else, or promised to take some specific action, before the next conversation with that target 103.

In an embodiment involving a separate CRM system, the automated calling system 100 may include a programmable CRM integration system that queries the separate CRM system to assemble and upload calling lists containing an appropriate combination of new leads, urgent activities, current activities, high priority activities and past-due activities. In addition, the programmable CRM integration system updates potential multiple records in the CRM system after each conversation with a target 103 in order to implement part of the functionality of the closed loop calling process described herein. A closed loop calling system in accordance with the present invention allows the user 101, or an administrator of the automated calling system 100, to define query filters or pre-defined CRM reports to be used to select the contact information for appropriate contacts for calling sessions. The user 101 can choose one or more of these predetermined filters or reports for a given session, and the programmable CRM integration system automatically invokes the predetermined query or report on the CRM system to load the resulting contact information into a calling list in the automated calling system 100.

The user 101 optionally modifies the calling list through a user interface that allows specific contacts, or all contacts that match a criterion such as “company”, to be eliminated from the calling list. The user 101 can also designate one or more targets 103 on the calling list as “high priority”, directing the automated calling system 100 to more intensively attempt to contact those targets 103 during the calling session.

After each conversation with a target 103, the user 101 uses the calling system user interface to record the disposition of the call, using pre-defined, optionally customized disposition field values, along with the follow-up date, “next steps” notes, and any other information that might be optionally required by the CRM system. The automated calling system 100 invokes the programmable CRM integration system with a command to update the CRM system with this information. The programmable CRM integration system has a programmable capability that, for each type of CRM system for each business using the automated calling system 100, allows an integration administrator to designate a sequence of actions to be taken in the CRM system. This sequence of actions is different for each type of CRM system, such as Salesforce.com or Microsoft Dynamics. It can also be different depending on the call disposition selected by the user 101, and may also vary depending on values of records within the CRM system, and on how the CRM system has been configured and is being used. The actions may consist of updating some records, such as setting the status on a target record to “Had Conversation”, optionally in combination with creating additional records, such as a task record indicating when the next attempt can be made to have a follow-up conversation with the target 103.

Additionally, each automated calling session produces information about calls that were attempted but not successfully connected. At the end of the session, or optionally after each attempt, or at some other time, the automated calling system 100 can invoke the programmable CRM integration system with a command to update the CRM system based on the call attempt records. The programmable CRM integration system can then use the call disposition information to automatically inactivate Lead or Contact records with known bad information, or can correct such records with information discovered during the calling session.

The programmable CRM integration system can produce a record of its inputs and the commands or other actions it invoked on the CRM system in order to support identification of possibly incomplete transactions where one or more, but possibly not all, of the defined set of steps were taken, perhaps because the CRM system became unavailable or inaccessible during the update, or because an update step failed and returned with an error, or never completed.

One advantage of the present invention is that monothematic calling lists may be created by combining query filters using the metadata described herein, in combination with additional query filters on other fields in the database 111 or the CRM system. Such monothematic calling lists may also be referred to as optimized calling lists. Examples of other theme fields in the database 111 or CRM system that may be used include the business purpose fulfilled by the contact for the user and target, the user's time zone in conjunction with the time scheduled for the calling session, the geographical location of the target in conjunction with the geographical location of the user 101, etc. For example, a user 101, who is traveling in San Francisco and has spare time to make calls, may ask the automated calling system 100 to call all of the user's “priority” targets 103 who are geographically located within fifteen miles of the user's current geographical location.

Turning to FIG. 3, a flow chart for a closed loop calling process in accordance with the present invention is shown. One embodiment of steps associated with a method of executing a calling session is shown. In step 301, a calling list is created for use in a calling session. As described above, queries may be run on information contained in the database 111, or on a contact management system (“CMS”) or a task management system (“TMS”) to create an optimized calling list. A CMS and a TMS are both components that are included in a conventional CRM system.

Once the calling list is created, the calling list is loaded into the automated calling system 100 in step 302, and a calling session is started, in this example, for a single user 101 a. While this particular calling list may be in use for only this particular user 101 a, the communication link establishment and management system 100 has the capability of running a plurality of callings sessions simultaneously for multiple users 101 a, 101 b, 101 c, 101 d, etc., each of whom has a unique calling list that is being executed for each respective calling session. Therefore, a plurality of agents 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d, 102 e are available to assist in any of the simultaneously running calling sessions as needed.

In step 303, when the communication link establishment and management system 100 establishes a connection with a target 103 a, the associated user 101 a (whose calling list included target 103 a) is connected to the target 103 a and has a conversation with the target 103 a.

In a closed loop calling process according to the present invention, events that occur during a conversation with a target 103, or as a result of a conversation with a target 103, may be processed automatically by the communication link establishment and management system 100 and associated information may be stored in the database 111. In step 304, if the target 103 a referred the user 101 a to a new contact or target 103 b, the illustrated method proceeds to step 305. The process of handling a new contact or target 103 b referred by the current target 103 a is executed in step 305, which is further illustrated in more detail in FIG. 4. In step 306, if the target 103 a agrees to meet with the user 101 a or someone else in the user's company (e.g., user 101 b) or someone associated with the user 101 a, the process of scheduling a meeting with the target 103 a is executed in step 307, which is further illustrated in more detail in FIG. 5. In step 308, if one outcome of the conversation included setting up a follow up conversation with the target 103 a, the process of setting up a follow up conversation with the target 103 a is executed in step 309, which is further illustrated in more detail in FIG. 6.

At the completion of a conversation, in step 310 the metadata for “attention class” is set to none, and the status of the target 103 a is changed to someone that user 101 a has talked to. Thus, the information associated with this target 103 a stored in the database 111 will be updated to reflect the updated metadata for this target 103 a, changing the “attention class” and/or the “status” metadata stored for target 103 a to a changed state. As a result of the changed state of the metadata, subsequently generated calling lists for user 101 a will not incorrectly include target 103 a with lists of targets who have not yet been talked to. Alternatively, as explained herein, updated metadata may be transferred to a third-party CRM system, third-party contact management system, or task management system.

After the conversation with the first target 103 a is completed, in step 311, the system 100 checks the calling list to determine if the list has been completed. If additional targets 103 b, 103 c, 103 d, etc., are on the calling list, and any time constraints placed upon the calling session have not expired, the communication link establishment and management system 100 will loop back from step 311 to step 303 and proceed with the process of establishing a communication connection between the user 101 a and a second target 103 b in step 303.

During a calling session, while the system 100 is performing the method 300 and looping through steps 303 to 311, the communication link establishment and management system 100 stores information associated with each call disposition. When the calling list has been completed, method 300 proceeds from step 311 to step 312, and information associated with each call disposition may be stored in the database 111, or can be transferred to a third-party CRM system, to a third-party contact management system, and/or to a third-party task management system, as shown in step 312. In the illustrated example, the information associated with call dispositions dealt with in step 312 involves information associated with failed attempts to contact a target 103. The process of applying failed contact attempts to the database 111, or alternatively to a third-party CRM system, to a third-party contact management system, and/or to a third-party task management system, is shown in more detail in FIG. 7. After the process described in step 312 is performed, the method 300 depicted in FIG. 3 ends at step 313.

Turning to FIG. 4, a method 305 is illustrated in more detail for handling a second target 103 f referred by a first target 103 a. The method 305 begins with step 316, in which the information associated with the second target 103 f is added to the database 111. Alternatively, the information associated with the second target 103 f is added to a third-party CRM system, to a third-party contact management system, and/or to a third-party task management system. The communication link establishment and management system 100 automatically sets certain metadata fields when step 316 is performed. The system 100 sets the metadata “status” field for new target 103 f to “not contacted.” If the second target 103 f that was referred by the first target 103 a is employed by the same company, which in many applications will be true in most instances, the company information associated with the first target 103 a will be cloned, or copied into the new record for the second target 103 f. In the case in which the system 100 is operating in conjunction with a third-party CRM system, a third-party contact management system, and/or a third-party task management system, the company information that is cloned for the second target 103 f will be the company information stored in such third-party systems that is associated with the first target 103 a.

As shown in FIG. 4, in step 317, the metadata for the “attention class” field for the second target 103 f will be selectively set by the system 100 based upon input from the user 101 a. The communication link establishment and management system 100 will set the metadata “attention class” field to “urgent,” “priority,” or “normal” as appropriate depending on the user 101 a's interpretation of the situation based upon the context of the conversation with the first target 103 a.

In step 318, the metadata for the “next steps” field associated with the second target 103 f will be selectively set by the system 100 based upon input from the user 101 a. The communication link establishment and management system 100 will set the metadata “next steps” field as appropriate depending on the conversation between the user 101 a and the first target 103 a. The metadata will be stored in the database 111. Alternatively, the corresponding information stored in a third-party CRM system, a third-party contact management system, and/or a third-party task management system, will be updated.

In step 319, the communication link establishment and management system 100 will automatically set the metadata “status” field for the first target 103 a to “contacted,” and the corresponding metadata stored in the database 111 will be updated. Alternatively, the corresponding metadata stored in a third-party CRM system, a third-party contact management system, and/or a third-party task management system will be updated. In addition, in step 320, the communication link establishment and management system 100 will automatically set the metadata “attention class” field for the first target 103 a to “none,” and the corresponding metadata stored in the database 111 will be updated. Alternatively, the corresponding metadata stored in a third-party CRM system, a third-party contact management system, and/or a third-party task management system will be updated. The method 305 is completed in step 315, and proceeds via 315 shown in FIG. 3 to step 310, as previously described.

FIG. 5 shows a method 307 for scheduling a meeting in more detail. In step 321, the communication link establishment and management system 100 will automatically set the metadata “status” field for the first target 103 a to “contacted,” and the corresponding metadata stored in the database 111 will be updated. Alternatively, the corresponding metadata stored in a third-party CRM system and/or a third-party contact management system (“CMS”) will be updated.

Referring to FIG. 5, in step 322, the communication link establishment and management system 100 will automatically set the metadata “hold flag” to “true,” and record the new setting for the “hold flag” in the database 111. Alternatively, the corresponding metadata stored in a third-party CRM system and/or a third-party contact management system (“CMS”) will be updated.

In step 323, a meeting record will automatically be created in the database 111, or alternatively a meeting record will be created in a third-party CRM system and/or in a third-party task management system (“TMS”). The illustrated method 307 ends at step 315, and proceeds via 315 shown in FIG. 3 to step 310, as previously described.

Referring to FIG. 6, a method 309 for setting up the follow up on a conversation with a target 103 is illustrated. In the illustrated example, in step 324, the communication link establishment and management system 100 will automatically update the metadata “status” field for the first target 103 a to “contacted,” and the corresponding metadata stored in the database 111 will be updated. Alternatively, the corresponding metadata stored in a third-party CRM system and/or a third-party contact management system (“CMS”) will be updated.

In step 325 shown in FIG. 6, the communication link establishment and management system 100 will selectively update the metadata “attention class” field for the first target 103 a to “urgent,” “priority,” or “normal,” as appropriate depending on the user 101 a's interpretation of the situation based upon the context of the conversation with the first target 103 a, and the corresponding metadata stored in the database 111 will be updated. Alternatively, the corresponding metadata stored in a third-party CRM system, a third-party contact management system, and/or a third-party task management system will be updated.

In step 326, the metadata for the “next steps” field associated with the target 103 a will be selectively set by the communication link establishment and management system 100 as appropriate depending on the conversation between the user 101 a and the target 103 a, and the metadata will be stored in the database 111. Alternatively, the corresponding information will be stored in a third-party CRM system and/or a third-party contact management system (“CMS”).

In step 327, the communication link establishment and management system 100 may automatically prepend conversation notes entered by the user 101 a into a “notes” field in the database 111 for the target 103 a, or alternatively, in a “notes” field in a third-party CRM system and/or a third-party contact management system (“CMS”).

In step 328, the communication link establishment and management system 100 will automatically set the metadata in the “wait until” date to an appropriate date after which a follow up call would be appropriate. The communication link establishment and management system 100 will automatically exclude the target 103 a from any calling lists generated prior to the date set in the “wait until” field. Moreover, the communication link establishment and management system 100 will automatically include the target 103 a in any calling lists that might otherwise encompass target 103 a and which are generated after the date set in the “wait until” field. Alternatively, the communication link establishment and management system 100 may automatically create a task to be stored in a third-party CRM system and/or a third-party task management system (“TMS”) to resume attempting to call the target 103 a after a set date. The illustrated method 309 ends at step 315, and proceeds via 315 shown in FIG. 3 to step 310, as previously described.

FIG. 7 illustrates a method 312 for applying failed call attempts to contact records. When all targets 103 have been called, or a calling session is otherwise terminated, the call disposition information for failed calls may be used to automatically update the information stored in the database 111, or alternatively, may be used to update information stored in a third-party CRM system, a third-party contact management system (“CMS”), and/or a third-party task management system (“TMS”).

In step 330, the record for the next failed call attempt is retrieved for processing. In step 331, if there are no more records for failed calls, the process proceeds to step 313 and method 312 terminates. If there are more records to process for failed calls, the method proceeds to step 332.

Referring to FIG. 7, in step 332, a determination is made concerning the reason for the failed call attempt. In the illustrated example, a set of predetermined values are provided as reasons for a failed call attempt, including “bad contact information,” “malformed number,” “target not at company,” “target is not in directory,” and “transferred to wrong number.” If the reason for failure is one of a predetermined set of reasons, the communication link establishment and management system 100 may automatically set the appropriate reason for failure record such information in the database 111. Alternatively, similar information may also be stored in a third-party CRM system, a third-party contact management system (“CMS”), and/or a third-party task management system (“TMS”).

In step 333, the “hold flag” associated with the target 103 a will be set to “true” so that the target 103 a is excluded from any calling lists that are generated until the reason for the failure is fixed. Otherwise, a target 103 a might repeatedly appear in calling lists, and the system 100 might repeatedly make calling attempts that would fail for the same reason that the present call attempt failed. In step 333, the communication link establishment and management system 100 effectively filters out bad data from a calling list which will improve the efficiency of the operation of the system in the future by eliminating bad contacts from calling lists.

In step 334, the communication link establishment and management system 100 may optionally research and fix contact records for associated targets 103 in the database 111, or in a third-party CRM system or a third-party contact management system (“CMS”). The system 100 may be provided with an AI engine that attempts to access publicly available records to obtain updated information for the target 103 a, or step 334 may be performed manually. In step 335, if the associated record for the target 103 is fixed, then the method proceeds to step 336 and the “hold flag” is cleared and reset to “false” so that the associated target may be included in a calling list. Thereafter, the method proceeds via 337 back to step 330 to get the next failed call record. In step 332, if the reason for the call failure is a reason other than one of the set of predetermined reasons, then the illustrated method proceeds via 337 back to step 330 to get the next failed call record, and the “hold flag” is not set.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart for a method for managing a meeting or manual call. A meeting with a target 103, or a manual phone call or other communication with a target 103, may impact whether that target 103 should be included in a calling list. In accordance with the present invention, a method is provided for updating the information in the database 111 to achieve desired modifications in the operation of the communication link establishment and management system 100 by taking into account the effect of such an event upon the generation of calling lists for the system 100.

Referring to FIG. 8, step 338 represents the meeting or conversation that has taken place with a target 103 outside the operation of an automated calling system 100. In addition to a meeting or manually dialed telephone conversation, step 338 may also represent a telephone call received by the user 101 from the target 103, or may represent an email communication or other correspondence, or may represent one or more text messages. In any event, in step 339, a determination is made whether the target 103 should be called later. If the answer is yes, then a follow up conversation is set up in step 309 shown in FIG. 8. Step 309 is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 6, and will not be further described here. After the completion of step 309 in FIG. 8, the “hold flag” associated with the target 103 will be set to “false” or “none” in step 340. The method illustrated in FIG. 8 ends at step 341.

Referring to FIG. 8, if a determination is made in step 339 that the target should not be called later, then the method proceeds directly from step 339 to step 341 as shown.

FIG. 12 depicts a programmable CRM integration system 500 for automatically synchronizing the database 111 in the communication link establishment and management system 100 with a third-party CRM system 501, a third-party contact management system (“CMS”) 502, and/or a third-party task management system (“TMS”) 503. Data fields in the database 111 may be mapped to corresponding data fields in the third-party CRM system 501, the third-party contact management system (“CMS”) 502, and/or the third-party task management system (“TMS”) 503. As events take place in connection with the execution of calling sessions by the communication link establishment and management system 100, the programmable CRM integration system 500 is operative to automatically update information in the third-party CRM system 501, the third-party contact management system (“CMS”) 502, and/or the third-party task management system (“TMS”) 503 so that current and up-to-date information will automatically be propagated to and contained in the third-party CRM system 501, the third-party contact management system (“CMS”) 502, and/or the third-party task management system (“TMS”) 503 at all times.

In one embodiment, the CRM integration system 500 has a programmable capability that allows a sequence of steps to be defined that will be executed by the integration system. For example, when the CRM integration system 500 is used for automatically synchronizing the database 111 with the third party management system, the automated calling system 100 invokes the integration system 500 with a command to update the third party management system. This could take place after each conversation with a prospect, after the user is finished with the entire calling session, or at any point in between. An integration administrator can use the programmable capability of the integration system 500 to designate a sequence of actions to be taken in the third-party CRM system 501, the third-party contact management system (“CMS”) 502, and/or the third-party task management system (“TMS”) 503. This sequence of actions is different for each type of third party management system, such as Salesforce.com or Microsoft Dynamics.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flow chart of one method of dynamically allocating agents according to one embodiment described herein. The method described in FIG. 9, indicated generally with reference numeral 200, illustrates how the various components of the system 100 work together in one embodiment to selectively dial telephone numbers from a list of targets or contacts 103 with whom communication is desired.

The communication link establishment and management system 100 operates in a continuous loop as shown in FIG. 9. As shown, at step 201, the current set of calling users 101, or pitchers 101, is scanned to find the most appropriate pitcher 101 to make the next call attempt on behalf of his or her company (in this example, the company has products or services to sell). This user or pitcher 101 can be selected according to various configurable rules or user selection criteria, which may be modified while the system 100 is operating, such as: length of time since this user 101 last had a call attempt; number of successful connections per unit time in the session so far; anticipated difficulty in achieving the guarantee of a predetermined target number of conversational connections for this user 101 based on the ratio of successful connections to failed connections, and optional factors including the mean and median times to complete call attempts during the session so far; as well as optional factors such as the business priority of the session to achieve goals such as enhanced customer satisfaction for specific customers 103, or effectiveness of system demonstrations.

In the illustrated embodiment, at step 202, when a pitcher 101 is identified, the system 100 scans the pitcher's calling list for the next phone number to attempt to call. This number can be selected based on configurable rules that can include: choosing the next number in randomly assigned order that satisfies call pacing constraints optionally including a minimum duration between attempts to call the same number and a maximum number of calls to any one number during a session or other predetermined period of time; a next number in order of defined priority, or within a set of numbers sharing the same priority, that satisfy call pacing constraints; or a number selected by the user 101 during the session and marked as highest priority to be attempted next.

In one embodiment, an optional step 203 may be performed which dials the first telephone number for the selected target at this stage of the process.

When a next number to attempt is selected, at step 204, the list of agents 102 is scanned to identify at least one agent 102 to whom the attempt can be assigned. This agent 102 can be optionally locked to the attempt at this point, or can be left unlocked until one of a configurable set of conditions occurs, such as the telephone system detects that the call was answered. The agent 102 may therefore be optionally locked onto the attempt at various points in the process, depending on the rules configuration. These can include: when dialing begins; when dialing is completed; when the call is answered by a human being or voice mail greeting rather than an IVR system; and when the call is answered by an IVR system. An agent 102 is not assigned to the call attempt if it is for an invalid number, there is no answer, a busy signal is detected, or the call is answered by a fax machine.

In step 205, a determination is made concerning whether sufficient agents 102 are currently available. If there are no agents 102 that match the criteria required for the next attempt for a given, or there are an insufficient number of agents 102 available for the current number of simultaneous calls in progress, in step 205 the method branches via 211 to step 206, where the previously telephone number is abandoned, and then the method proceeds back to step 201, and a next pitcher 101 is identified according to the prioritization rules described above. For example, if the next pitcher 101 according to the prioritization rules requires a German speaking agent 102, and all German speaking agents 102 in the overall agent pool are currently locked on to call attempts, the list of pitchers 101 is re-scanned and a pitcher 101 with the second highest score according to the prioritization rules is selected for the next call attempt in step 201.

Because the best agent 102 preferably is not locked on to the attempt until one of the configurable set of positive call outcomes happens, it is possible that a tentatively selected first agent 102 a becomes unavailable by being assigned to another call attempt that was happening in parallel. In this case, the list of agents 102 is scanned again to find a second agent 102 b with the next best score according to predetermined agent assignment rules. Among the agents 102 that match the criteria for the next call attempt for the selected session, additional selection criteria may be applied to select the best agent 102 available. These criteria may include such factors as the labor cost of the agent 102, the agent's historical efficiency at generating connections, and meeting requirements to fairly distribute calls to agents 102 or meet obligations for minimum use of agents 102 provided by different vendors. In step 205, if no suitable agent 102 is available, the call attempt is disconnected and abandoned in step 206, and the system 100 returns to the outer loop at step 201 to select the best pitcher 101 for the next call attempt.

Once a first agent 102 a is successfully associated with a first call attempt at step 207, the communication link establishment and management system 100 operates in parallel fashion, and the system 100 immediately proceeds back via 210 to begin a second call attempt at step 201 that may potentially involve the association of a second agent 102 b. Simultaneously, the first agent 102 a who was successfully associated with the first call attempt proceeds to take actions to process the first call attempt. This parallel functionality of the communication link establishment and management system 100 is a critical feature of the present invention, and this parallel functionality provides many significant advantages over prior systems that did not include such capability.

When a call attempt is assigned to an agent 102 in step 207, the agent 102 performs actions depending on the conditions associated with that particular call attempt in order to establish a communication link with the desired target person 103. This is illustrated in FIG. 9 by step 208, in which the calling plan for the associated target 103 is executed. In the illustrated example, the agent 102 is connected to the telephone call, and simultaneously presented with a screen display of information associated with the target 103, such as the target person's name, job title, company name, as well as other identifying information. As an example of the actions performed by the agent 102, if the call is answered by a gatekeeper, such as a secretary or administrative assistant, the agent 102 would ask to speak to the target person 103. If the call is answered by an IVR system, the agent 102 could respond to the IVR system in an appropriate fashion to obtain a connection to the desired target person 103. However, it should be appreciated that the system 100 performs certain functions during the execution of the calling plan step 208 shown in FIG. 9.

In one embodiment, each agent 102 that is defined in the system may be described in a stored profile that includes a list of skills, such as languages spoken and understood, experience level, skills and training, certifications, along with optional proficiency scores for each skill and a score representing the agent's quality rating, based upon his or her historical success rate in achieving correct connections, normalized for the overall quality of calling lists for those past sessions. When an agent 102 logs into the communication link establishment and management system 100, the agent's identifier, session identifier, skills profile and quality score are recorded in a data structure that includes all currently available agents 102.

Target characteristic information associated with each target 103 may be stored in a database 111. During a calling session, this target characteristic information may be used in determining the best agent 102 to handle a calling attempt directed to that target 103. When the assistance of an agent 102 is needed to further process an attempted call to a particular target 103, the agent characteristic information may be compared with the target characteristic information, and a determination can be made to select the best available agent 102 based upon the results of such a comparison. For example, if the target 103 is a high priority high-level executive, an agent 102 may be selected who has the best performance rating of all available agents, or who has the greatest experience. If the target 103 speaks Japanese, for example, then the agent characteristic information may be used to select an agent 102 who speaks Japanese.

FIG. 10 is a state table that illustrates in more detail the functionality and steps involved in the execution of a calling plan 208. The functionality involved in the execution of a calling plan may involve a number of different states and multiple possible sequences of states, and is best explained with a state table rather than a flow chart. FIG. 10 contains a left column 215 setting forth possible call states, and the middle column 216 sets forth the next step that potentially follows the associated call state. The right column 217 indicates whether the associated step is done by the agent 102, or automatically by the system 100, and in some instances, the associated step may be performed by either or both.

Referring to FIG. 10, in the first row 218, if the call is answered by a voice, an agent 102 is dynamically selected and assigned to this call attempt, and the agent 102 or the system 100 may categorize the call attempt as reaching a live person, an automated attendant or company directory, or a voice message greeting. The ability of a human agent 102 to make such a determination is apparent.

However, in an alternative embodiment, instead of a human agent 102 making the determination indicated in the first row 218 of the table, the communication link establishment and management system 100 may include a voice recognition software module, and an artificial intelligence or AI module, that are operative to decode the speech and ascertain what words were spoken by a live person, or an automated attendant, or a voicemail greeting, and automatically determine the correct state in the middle column 216 of the first row 218 that applies to this call attempt. The AI module may detect the language spoken by the voice answering the telephone, whether it is a live person, an automated attendant, or a voicemail greeting, and record the detected language in a record associated with the target 103 in the database 111. When the best agent 102 is selected in step 207 shown in FIG. 9, the language skills of the available agents may be compared with the language detected by the AI, or compared with stored information in the database 111 concerning the languages spoken by the target 103, and an agent 102 may be selected in step 207 that speaks the same language that is spoken by the target 103.

The AI module may include a database containing hash values for decoded voice recordings, and may include the functionality of recognizing when the same recording answers a telephone. The database may store information associated with a telephone answered by a particular voice recording, such as a record of the correct signals to transmit to an associated IVR system in order to navigate the IVR system or the correct signals to navigate a company directory associated with that recording. A sophisticated voice recognition AI module and database may be included to recognize the voice of the target person 103 in the event that the target person 103 answers the phone, and in some such instances, may complete the call between a user 101 and such target person 103 without any need for an agent 102.

Referring to FIG. 10, instances where a call is connected to the target person 103, the call state is depicted in the fourth row 221 of the left column 215. When that state is reached, the agent 102 (or the system 100 if automatic operation capability is provided) immediately transfers the call to an appropriate user 101, and the disposition of the call is recorded in an associated database as a successful communication link. In the event of a successful call disposition, the call state changes to the state indicated in the seventeenth row 234 of FIG. 10.

The second row 219 in FIG. 10 illustrates the state of a call that is answered by a live person, rather than a recording. It will be appreciated that the second row 219 is one state that is a possible outcome from the state explained above with respect to the first row 218 in FIG. 10. In this case 219, the agent 102 would typically determine whether the live person is a gatekeeper, is the target 103, or is some other person. However, as described above, a voice recognition AI module and database may be provided with the capability of recognizing the voice of the target person 103, or the voice of the target's regular gatekeeper, (such as the target's normal administrative assistant), and the determination described in the middle column 216 of the second row 219 may be determined automatically by the system 100.

An agent 102 may be provided with a script to use when a call attempt is answered by a gatekeeper. In addition, the agent 102 may be able to answer questions and to provide the gatekeeper with additional information concerning the purpose of the call. If the call attempt is answered by a gatekeeper, the call state is depicted in the left column 215 of the third row 220 shown in FIG. 10. In the illustrated example 220, the agent 102 would read or recite a predetermined greeting or script to the gatekeeper.

Referring to FIG. 10, if the call state is a connection to someone else, as depicted in row five 222 of the left column 215, (for example, the telephone number provided in the calling list may be a wrong number or the target person may not work there any longer), the agent 102 records in an associated database 111 that the call attempt failed, and may save additional details relating to the call disposition.

If the call state is that the call is connected to a company directory, as indicated in the sixth row 223 of the left column 215 in FIG. 10, the next step in the method according to one embodiment is to determine whether the target 103 is in the company directory. This may be done by the agent 102. In addition, an AI module with voice recognition functionality may perform the same step automatically, with the system 100 making that determination.

If the target is determined to be in the company directory, then the call state goes to the state indicated in the seventh row 224 of the left column 215 of FIG. 10. The appropriate signals are transmitted to the company telephone system, typically in the form of touch tones sent to a PBX, to cause the company PBX to connect the call to the extension corresponding to the target 103. This step may be performed by the agent 102, or may be performed automatically by the system 100 in an embodiment having an AI module and a voice recognition module. Alternatively, previous calling experience with a particular telephone number may be saved in the database 111, and in the case of a main number to a business having a known automated attendant system whose commands are saved in the database, the system 100 may recognize when a telephone number is being called that it is a known automated attendant system. If the command structure for a known automated attendant system is saved in the database 111, the system 100 may proceed to automatically issue commands to the company's automated attendant system to cause the company PBX to transfer the call to the extension associated with the target 103 without connecting to an agent 102. Such functionality may be accomplished without an advanced AI module or voice recognition module.

Another outcome from the state indicated in row 223 is that the target is not contained in the company directory. In that event, the call state changes to the eighth row 225 of the left column 215 depicted in FIG. 10. The next step of the method according to one embodiment would be to record in the database 111 the call disposition as failed, and further record in the database additional information associated with the failed call attempt, such as the characteristic that the target 103 was not in the company directory.

One outcome of the call state in the first row 218 of FIG. 10 is that the voice turns out to be a voicemail greeting. In that event, the call state changes to the state indicated in the ninth row 226 of the left column 215 of FIG. 10. The agent 102, or in the case of an embodiment featuring automated operation the system 100, may check to determine whether there is a predetermined voicemail message recorded for this calling session and applicable to this target 103. If so, the system 100 may automatically take over the process of leaving a voicemail message for the target 103, and after detecting a tone indicating the beginning of a recording session by the target's company voicemail system, the system 100 will play the predetermined voicemail message in order for the message to be recorded by the company voicemail system. Upon completion of the voicemail message, the system 100 will terminate the call, and the call state changes to the state indicated in the seventeenth row 234 of FIG. 10.

One possible call state is that a busy signal is detected, as indicated in the tenth row 227 of FIG. 10. The next step will be performed automatically by the system 100. The busy signal is automatically detected by the system 100 without any intervention by an agent 102, and the system 100 automatically stores data relating to the call disposition in the database 111. In this case, a record indicating that the call attempt failed is stored, and associated information is stored in the database 111 showing that the call failed because of a busy signal. The call state then changes to the state indicated in the fourteenth row 231 of FIG. 10. In addition, the system 100 may also provide a means for adding the associated telephone number back in the list of numbers to be called during the current session in an effort to re-dial the number and again attempt a call to that number. Alternatively, the call disposition information stored in the database 111 may be queried at a later date to generate a calling list for a subsequent calling session that is intended to re-dial telephone numbers with certain associated call disposition characteristics, such as a list of call failures that were due to busy numbers on previous attempts.

Another possible call state is that the call attempt resulted in being connected to a facsimile machine, as indicated in the eleventh row 228 of FIG. 10. The system 100 automatically detects the facsimile machine, and stores call disposition information in the database 111 that the call failed due to the fact that the telephone number called was for a facsimile machine. The call state then changes to the state indicated in the fourteenth row 231 of FIG. 10.

As indicated in the twelfth row 229 of FIG. 10, in the case of no answer, the system 100 stores call disposition information in the database 111 that the call failed due to the fact that the telephone number called was not answered. The call state then changes to the state indicated in the fourteenth row 231 of FIG. 10.

If the call attempt resulted in a determination that the telephone number in the calling list was a malformed number, as indicated in the thirteenth row 230 of FIG. 10, the system automatically records in the database 111 a call disposition indicating the there was a data error associated with the telephone number. The call state then changes to the state indicated in the fourteenth row 231 of FIG. 10.

When the call state is a failed call attempt, as indicated in the fourteenth row 231 of FIG. 10, the system 100 automatically checks to determine whether the database 111 or the calling list contains any other numbers for the target 103. If an alternate number is found, the call state changes to the state indicated in the fifteenth row 232 of FIG. 10, and an alternate number is dialed. If an alternate number is not found, the call state changes to the state indicated in the sixteenth row 233 of FIG. 10, and the disposition of the calling attempt would be indicated as failed, and this information would be stored in the database 111.

In the event of any successful call disposition, the call state changes to the state indicated in the seventeenth row 234 of FIG. 10. In that event, the system 100 releases any associated or selected agent 102 and terminates the calling plan with a success status stored in the database associated with the target 103. The system 100 may then loop back to begin another call attempt at step 201 in FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 shows a screenshot of an example of a screen display 400 presented to an agent 102 when the agent 102 is connected to a call attempt in progress. The display 400 illustrated in FIG. 11 provides the agent 102 with identifying data for the target 103, such as the target's first name 401, last name 402, job title 403, and telephone number 404. (A fictitious telephone number is illustrated in FIG. 11.) The company 405 associated with the target 103 is also preferably displayed to the agent 102.

The agent 102 is preferably also provided with information associated with the user or pitcher 101 tentatively selected for this call, if the call attempt is successful. User associated information may be displayed in user display box 416. For example, if a call is answered by an operator or gatekeeper, the agent 102 can ask if the target person 103 is available to speak with the designated user 101, and the agent 102 can identify the designated user 101 by name (and company if applicable). For example, the agent 102 would be able to ask if “Mr. Chris Smith is available to speak with Mr. Jim Jones,” assuming the user 101 is Jim Jones and the user's name is displayed to the agent 102 in the user display box 416.

If the agent 102 is successful at reaching the first target person 103 a, the agent 102 clicks on the transfer button 406, and the call is transferred to an appropriate user 101. The transfer signal resulting from the agent 102 clicking on the transfer button 406 is handled by the connection management module 113 shown in FIG. 2. The agent 102 is then immediately free to enter data concerning the call disposition and then handle another call attempt associated with a second target person 103 b. This method results in optimum utilization of the agent 102, and the agent 102 is involved with a call attempt only during a limited time period when the assistance and involvement of a human agent 102 is required. All other steps associated with a call attempt are performed automatically by the system 100.

Referring to FIG. 11, if instead of reaching the target person 103, the agent 102 is referred to, or otherwise reaches a voicemail for the desired target 103, the agent 102 may optionally click on the leave voicemail message button 407. In a preferred embodiment, a prerecorded voicemail message is automatically left by the system 100, and the agent 102 is freed up immediately after clicking on the leave voicemail message button 407 to enter data concerning the call disposition and then take another call attempt. When the agent 102 clicks on the leave voicemail message button 407, the system 100 waits on the target's voicemail system and spends the time necessary to automatically record a predetermined voicemail message without further human intervention or involvement.

There may be some instances when it is desirable for an agent 102 to be capable of hanging up on a call in progress, and in the illustrated embodiment, the agent 102 may do so by clicking on a hang up button 415. In some instances, for example when the agent 102 is speaking to someone over a cellular phone and the target's cell phone drops the call, the agent 102 can hang up and redial the number by clicking on the redial button 414.

Before the agent 102 is available to be connected to another call attempt, the agent 102 preferably enters call disposition data that is stored in a database or data store. A drop down menu 408 may be provided from which the agent may select an appropriate call disposition instance and record the data by clicking on an associated call disposition submit button 409. An agent 102 may also be provided with a popup window 410 that provides a selection of possible characteristics for system quality, lead quality, and call report, which may be recorded by the agent 102 and submitted by clicking on call data record button 411. In the illustrated example, available system quality characteristics that may be recorded include “no one there,” “dropped call,” “delayed transfer,” “poor voice quality,” “voice late,” and “lead late.” Lead quality characteristics provided in this example include “bad number,” “inappropriate company,” “inappropriate title,” and “bad information.” In the illustrated example, call report data that may be recorded in a data store includes “person answered,” “IVR answered,” “fax answered,” “direct number,” and “IVR navigation success.” These examples are illustrative only, and a person skilled in the art will appreciate that many other outcomes and characteristics may be provided for the agent 102 to optionally record.

An agent 102 may also type notes associated with a call attempt in a text box 412, and save the notes by clicking on notes save button 413. The notes typed by the agent 102 will be saved in a data store within a database so that the notes are associated with the target or customer 103. Moreover, when a call in progress is referred to a second agent 102 b, any previously typed notes saved by a first agent 102 a may be displayed to the second agent 102 b in the notes window 412.

The screen display 400 shown in FIG. 11 is illustrative only, and persons skilled in the art will appreciate that different configurations and arrangements may be provided for an agent display screen in accordance with the spirit and scope of the present invention.

The example shown in FIG. 1 is illustrative of one embodiment. The public switched telephone network 104 may be replaced, in whole or in part, with a network 104, such as the Internet 104. The system 100 may include a user device operated by the user 101, such as a client computer connected to a network employing client-server architecture. The system 100 preferably includes a server and a database store 111. The server and the database 111 are preferably integrated into one physical device, but other arrangements are possible. Alternatively, the server and the database 111 may be integrated, while the user device is remote, for example, a client computer or tablet device running a browser that communicates with the system 100 over a network using TCP/IP protocol. Alternatively, the server running the system 100 and a separate server containing the database 111, may communicate with each other via a local area network or a wide area network, including the Internet. An ordinary artisan will understand that that the system 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 is only one example, that many other configurations are possible and further, duplicative components may be eliminated where possible.

A server suitable for implementing the system 100 may comprise a computing device, and may include a processor, a memory, a network interface, and appropriate software. The database 111 may be stored on a server comprising a computing device, and may include a processor, a memory, a network interface, a database module, and a data storage device such as a hard drive.

The system 100 may enforce call processing and connection rules and may be tasked with controlling a second separate third-party database containing contact associated information, and may be provided with the necessary privileges and authorization to make changes to the third-party database associated with thereof. The communication link establishment and management system 100 may interface with conventional customer relationship management programs and databases, such as salesforce.com and the like, in order to provide the functionality and advantages of the present invention without requiring a business to discard its existing tools and software, and without requiring expensive and disruptive software replacements and upgrades. For example, the system may include a server operative to create database records in a database 111 associating results of connected calls, unsuccessful call attempts, bad telephone numbers, and information obtained from communications with person(s) contacted.

More particularly, in response to receiving information during and as a result of a connection or unsuccessful attempt at a connection, closed loop calling process functionality may be employed. The system 100 may use the information in the database 111 to create additional lists and new groups of telephone numbers for other purposes, such as follow up calls or re-attempts, and/or make changes and updates to the current customer relationship information in conventional customer relationship management programs and databases, such as salesforce.com and the like. Further, the system 100 may use call disposition data to improve the quality of calling lists, for example, by deleting bad telephone numbers, by changing the telephone numbers for a target person 103 when the target 103 changes jobs or moves to a different location, by storing the necessary sequence of touch tones that must be generated in order to navigate an automated attendant at a particular target's telephone number in order to reach the desired target 103, etc. In practice, the quality of information in any set of contacts or calling list degrades over time, because people change jobs, their business moves to a new location, they are promoted to a new position or change job responsibilities with the same company, they retire, they change their name (for example, as a result of a marriage or a divorce), or a person may be deceased. One by-product of the operation of the system 100 is to improve the quality of the information in a set of contacts or calling list by eliminating or updating incorrect information.

The database 111 preferably stores information associated with individual targets 103 that may be discovered during calling sessions. For example, the telephone number that a target 103 is most likely to answer may be stored. The language(s) spoken by the target 103 may be stored in the database 111.

The actual time zone where the target 103 is located is also stored. Prior to the widespread use of mobile phones, telephone numbers were associated with physical locations, and the area code associated with the telephone number would uniquely identify the time zone where the telephone was located. A new paradigm has emerged with the widespread use of cellular telephones, and now a telephone number is associated with a person instead of a physical location. Because people are mobile, the area code of a cellular telephone number is not a reliable indication of the time zone where the person associated with the cellular telephone number is located. In addition, a cellular telephone subscriber may not want to change telephone numbers when the subscriber moves to a different area code, and there is no requirement that a subscriber must do so. Therefore, because contact information associated with a target 103 frequently includes mobile telephone numbers, the area code of a telephone number associated with a target 103 does not always match the time zone where the target 103 may be located when an attempted call is made to the target 103.

The database 111 may store customer relationship and contact information, index information for the customer contacts and relationships, contact database element relationships and contact relationship element component related information. In addition, the database 111 may store authentication, template definitions, and/or business rules. Given that the database 111 stores useful and valuable information as a by-product of the operation of the system 100, the information that is collected, verified, and updated in the database 111 can be used by a second business having a calling list that overlaps with a previous calling list from a first business, and at least some of the targets 103 or telephone numbers are the same. For example, the first business might conduct a calling session using a calling list that included a number of targets 103 for which the only telephone number available was the main telephone number for a large corporation, and each such target 103 required navigation of the company directory or other efforts were required to obtain a direct dial number for the targets 103. Thereafter, a second business might conduct a calling session that includes targets 103 with the same large corporation, and which only have the main telephone number provided. The system 100 may conduct the calling session for the second business more efficiently by taking advantage of any direct dial numbers obtained for common targets 103 who were on the calling list for the first business, and by recording information concerning the navigation of the company directory to more quickly locate the targets 103 at that telephone number for whom no direct dial number is available. If the system 100 is used by a number of businesses in an industry, the system 100 may, as a by-product of the upgrading and updating of contact information that occurs during operation of the system 100, effectively produce a database 111 of contact information that is more current and of a higher quality than any conventional telephone book or published directory.

The illustrated example described herein may be employed in one embodiment. However, one skilled in the art will understand that any of a plurality of embodiments may be utilized to perform the methods described herein. For example, FIG. 1 shows six agents 102. However, it should be understand that the number of agents 102 is arbitrary, and any number of agents 102 may be used in connection with the communication link establishment and management system 100. Similarly, the example shown in FIG. 1 has five users 101. However, it should be understood that the number of users 101 is arbitrary, and any number of users 101 may be used in connection with the communication link establishment and management system 100. Further, any number of targets 103 may be simultaneously contacted by the communication link establishment and management system 100, and the invention is not limited to the number of targets shown in the illustrated example of FIG. 1.

The term “communication link” as used herein may be defined broadly to include any channel of communication between two or more persons. In the context of this description, a “communication link”, in addition to the examples cited herein, may be a wireless data connection, a radio transmission, a satellite connection, a VoIP connection, a television or video connection, or any data path or communication channel that permits a conversation to take place between a user and a target.

Those of ordinary skill will also understand that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and algorithm steps described in connection with the examples disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. Furthermore, the present invention can also be embodied on a machine-readable medium causing a processor or computer to perform or execute certain functions.

To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the disclosed apparatus and methods.

The various illustrative logical blocks, units, modules, and circuits described in connection with the examples disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the examples disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. The steps of the method or algorithm may also be performed in an alternate order from those provided in the examples. A software module may reside in tangible, non-transitory memory such as RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory. EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). The ASIC may reside in a user device, a wireless device, or a smartphone. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user device, a wireless device, or a smartphone.

The previous description of the disclosed examples is provided to enable any person of ordinary skill in the art to make or use the disclosed methods and apparatus. Various modifications to these examples will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the principles defined herein may be applied to other examples without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosed method and apparatus. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive and the scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for a closed loop process in connection with an automatic calling system, comprising: a communication link establishment and management system configured to selectively establish a communication channel between a user and a target, the communication link establishment and management system having a data store for storing contextual lead information associated with targets; the communication link establishment and management system being operative to initiate a plurality of outbound calling attempts to establish communication with a plurality of targets, and to store information associated with each target, including information concerning a status of a target, an attention class associated with a target, a date before which further communications should not be attempted with the target, and information concerning next steps to be taken with respect to the target; and the communication link establishment and management system being programmed to automatically interface with a customer relationship management system to transfer said information to the customer relationship management system to update a database associated with the customer relationship management system. 